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PROLOGUE Finaghy, Northern Ireland 17th June 2010 There was a woman screaming in his face. She was one of many, crowding around him. But he couldn't hear her. With the headgear he was wearing, Sergeant George Kelly couldn't hear what any of them were saying. They were all just muffled words. Muted. Censored. Like sounds you would hear under water. But he could see her talking, see her screaming. And he knew she was swearing. It was something about the way her lips were moving. Shaping the words as if they were heavy. Teeth showing. Almost growling rather than speaking. Or maybe laughing. Because, with every fuck-shaped word she mouthed, there was at least the hint of a smile. It didn't matter, of course. None of their words mattered to George when all he could hear was the rhythmic sound of his own breathing. A mechanical mish-mash of pumps and compression as sanitised air flowed, noisily, through rubber tubing into his facemask and lungs. Steady and dependable. Pure and uninfected. He felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking to the corner of his visor, he saw his constable, Norman Coulter, also in breathing apparatus, also fighting through the confused and excited crowd. Norman smiled, as if enjoying himself, rolling with the mob as if on some fairground ride. George knew it was just bravado, though. Maybe the big man was drinking on the job, again. Or maybe he had something even more taboo flooding through his system. George didn't care, though. Not now. He couldn't blame the poor bastard for taking the edge off, regardless of how he did it. In fact, he wished he'd had the wit to take a drink himself.

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Review

"Flu is a belligerent little number. An easy to read, action packed blast of zombie shenanigans, that I thoroughly enjoyed." -- Kamvision

"A traditional tale of the dead rising. A richly developed story with characters that you can love or hate based on the depth with which they are developed. Wayne Simmons does not disappoint." -- Patrick D'Orazio's Tomes of Darkness

From the Author

"One of the best new horror writers of the decade. Wayne Simmons takes everything you fear and exploits it with no apologies." James Melzer, author of The Zombie Chronicles

Top Customer Reviews

Ever wondered what might happen if flu turned people into zombies? No, me neither. Now having read this feisty little tome I can see that it's a question that definitely needs asking. You see, in this tale from Wayne Simmons a flu pandemic wipes out most of civilisation, and those who die coughing up their internal organs don't stay dead. Instead they rise as cannibalistic undead, and roam the streets seeking out the few survivors to satisfy their hunger.

The streets in this particular tale of the lurching dead are those of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The run down council estates of these environs provide a perfectly bleak backdrop to the story. Peopling the remains of this environment, are those who survived the initial bout of zombie plague to serve as protagonists. They are a varied bunch and include an ex IRA gunrunner, a retired army major, and a young skinhead.

Despite the silly sounding idea of a flu pandemic causing a zombie apocalypse, I found this book to be great fun. It has a dark wit running through it, and a great punk attitude; lean, mean and full of energy. I really liked Simmons's writing style too, I found it enthusiastic and straight to the point. Some may not be so keen, however, as it's blunt and frequently involves swearing. For me the at times sardonic tone suited the story perfectly. Not that there is a great deal of obvious humour, but a dark humour permeates the narrative and dialogue.

This book is so lean it could be an advert for Weight Watchers. At 282 pages of almost non stop zombie mayhem, there is certainly no padding. Thankfully the characterisation doesn't suffer from its slightness. You know enough of what you need to know about the characters to make them interesting and rounded.Read more ›

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This one of those zombie stories that concentrates on building likable (mostly, anyway) realistic characters, ones that develop and that you care about. The zombies are ever-present but are used more as a threatening backdrop (for most of the story) rather than an overwhelming flood.

The diverse characters are thrown together and left to sort things out between themselves. This is a source of friction and tension which is maintained throughout the book, keeping you hooked. People are double-crossed, commit atrocious acts and die unexpectedly. It keeps you guessing right until the end.

Both sides of the Irish Troubles are represented by a couple of characters and this is handled very well; Wayne Simmons isn't one-sided in his portrayal of either side so there is no political bias.

The zombies are mostly Romeroesque with some subtle differences and evidence of 'evolution' in their behaviour.

It has quite an open ending that cries out for a sequel. I hope we have news soon whether this will be the case.

I thoroughly recommend this book, especially if you are a bit jaded with zombie attacks that only seem to happen in small towns in Pittsburgh.

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I bought this book randomly off Amazon as it was recommended to me. Perhaps it's just me and I've read too many books of a similar genre, but I really did find nothing special or interesting about this.. Standard plot of flu mutated, 99% of population becomes zombies, a few survivors grouped together trying to figure the whole thing out.. oh, and the army and a few old conspiracies involved. On the whole, not a bad book but not a great book - no new ground covered and nothing particularly gripping or memorable about it.. I did find it a bit of a chore to read in the middle. For a different take on the Zombie genre rather than the same old recipe, I'd recommend reading John Avide Lindqvist 'Handling the Undead'.

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To start off with, I liked this book, if was good enough to finish, the story and characters were engaging enough to make me want to read on. That has to be a good thing right? Though not original (lets face it Virus + Zombie = Undead Munchies and Survivors avoiding Becoming Nibbles, or, V+Z=UM-SBN as the formulae goes), that doesn't mean it's bad. As stated before, and by others, I liked this book.

However, there were some issues that I had with it. First up are the sloppy errors, unforgivable spelling and punctuation. Wayne Simmons and the team should have picked those up. The editing felt loose and flabby, given the length of the book, which brings me on to...second, the book was too short, more depth might have pulled me into the Flu world and given much more strength and feeling to the experience.

But lastly, and for me the read bug bear was the constant "as if's" it was as if the writer could not think of an alternative, as if he was struggling, oh, see, he's got me doing it now. It was very distracting. Two or three times in a chapter are repetitive enough, but two or three per paragraph, well, I ask you.

I might read it again, if only to count up the as if's. If you can cope with the errors, and the as if's, and you have the cash to spare then give it a go, myself, I wish I'd got it from the library, and saved a few quid.

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Set in Belfast, where surely the dead still extract a price upon the living several disperate characters find themselves battling to stay alive against undead zombie hordes,their own prejudices and each other.

The authorites in the shape of the Police and the Army attempt to quarentine the infected but the FLU epidemic spreads quickly and only the armed [Police, Ex IRA] and the quick [ petty criminals,young women ] really stand a chance holding out in various houses while the zombies wander the streets outside.

Themes of revenge, guilt for past misdeeds and hope for redemption in the shape of a possible cure for the FLU make it all a good read.

Some caution should be given though as there is inevitably some gorey bits and an attempted sexual assault though I hasten to add that this is a horror story. I didn't feel there were too many graphic descriptions that would induce retching in anyone.

So buy-or die!

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